Airius (6 1/2 years old) lost his second tooth yesterday evening. It had been a long time coming since the permanent tooth had already surfaced behind the milk tooth. He was fascinated to hear that this phenomenon is often referred to as "shark" teeth. Sharks are, after all, his most favorite animal in the world. As you can see in the picture, the Tooth Fairy brough him a whole dollar and a piece of iron pyrite in exchange for his tiny white tooth. He was thrilled!
Not so thrilled, however, is his twin sister. She has yet to lose a single tooth or even find a wiggler. Even though she knew this was coming and I told her the story of how I was the last kid of all the kids in my second grade class to lose a tooth, there were many tears this morning. Sometimes it is difficult to be a twin and live on someone else's timeline.
For those of you who may be visiting this site and do not know much about Waldorf education, there is significant talk in Waldorf circles about the change of teeth as a signal for first grade readiness. Keep in mind that this is only one indicator of first grade readiness, but I mention it here because there is an interesting case with my twins. Airius, who has now lost two teeth, picked up reading very quickly in his public school kindergarten class. He is very eager to read and will put in the effort to sound out words rather than ask an adult every time he comes across something new. On the other hand, Annie, who has lost no teeth, still shows little interest in learning to read. She was the first to write and distinguish letters, but she makes little effort towards reading and will come to an adult immediately upon encountering ANY words. I don't know that there is necessarily any correlation, since Annie seemed far more ready for school in just about every other way, but it's food for thought.
Here's hoping that the next visit from the tooth fairy requires a new pouch for an eager little girl...
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